The Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (FINE) an initiative of the Office of the President of India to recognise and reward innovations will open at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday.

The festival is being organised by the President's Secretariat in association with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). It is a celebration of country's innovation potential, particularly ideas stemming from grassroots and from creative communities in disadvantaged regions.

About 250 innovative exhibits of school students, grassroots innovators, technology students, entrepreneurs, industry representatives and public sector organisations will be on display during the exhibition that will run up to 23 March at the Football Ground in the Rashtrapati Bhawan complex. Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards will be given on first day. These awards are given to student innovation in engineering, science, technology and design for affordable and frugal solutions. This year 2,915 entries were received in 54 technology domains from 312 universities institutes belonging to 34 states and Union Territories.

The innovation clubs at different universities, colleges, institutions and schools will share their activities through posters and innovative exhibits. The representatives of various institutions of higher learning will be participating in a group discussion about lessons they wish to share about searching, spreading and celebrating grassroots innovations. They will also share how they sensed the unmet social needs and tried to solve them. The group recommendations will be presented in the last session.

“FINE would provide platform to the innovators for building the linkages with potential stakeholders whose support can improve their prospects in coming years for the larger social good,” said Dr. Vipin Kumar, Director and Chief Innovation Officer, NIF. “ It is imperative that India becomes a growth engine for the world and provides a new model of inclusive development by providing a large number of open technological and other solutions for the developing and developed world.”

The exhibition will also provide a window to creative and innovative solutions for social development through grassroots innovations, student ideas and other technologies for agriculture, rural development, sanitation, health, women and child development, biotechnology and medical innovation for grassroots. A series of roundtables will be held on various themes — S&T-led innovations for societal application, nurturing innovation ecosystem, role of government in scaling up and commercialization of innovations, and innovations for sustainable agriculture with special focus on Bamboo and herbal medicine, aroma, fragrance and flavours.